The old chief insisted on his statement, Rong Yue didn’t say anything, he only smiled and looked at him.
Like a pair of giant eyes that saw him through inside and out, from hair to skin, from skin to bone …… The old chief had to woefully admit that he could not top it.
The old chief sighed and shrank back.
“Come with me.”
There was a strange short shrub at the opposite corner of the small building in the tribe.
Rong Yue and Tian Yang followed the old chief, all the way through the shrub in silence. The fog made the view blurred, and a flower garden-like flat land appeared in front of them, on which a bone was erected, densely packed with hundreds and thousands of bones.
It was creepy.
“This is ……”
“It’s our ancestors.” The old chief said.
This was a tribe without a name.
People had left, people had joined, and people had rested here to give birth to their offspring.
The old chief said: “Many people wait here until they die, just to wait for their companions to come back. Or a brother, or a relative, or a bonded couple.”
“Because …… we don’t know if the companion is dead or not. Even if you go in to find out, you’ll forget.”
When the wind blew, the mist scattered, and the bone forest loomed in front of them.
The old chief’s voice was mellow and hoarse: “The bone forest is the last mark left by everyone, hoping that one day, if the companion comes out alive, there is a proof – their companion was always waiting.”
Not knowing whether they lived or died, they numbly waited.
Rong Yue looked at this forest of bones, slightly shocked.
The old chief looked at Rong Yue and Tian Yang: “When I entered the wilderness with my wife, I was also as big as you are ……”
That year, the old chief wasn’t yet an old chief, he was just a young man in his early twenties, full of energy and full of inexhaustible strength.
Everything changed, when he fell in love with a young girl in the tribe.
The young girl wasn’t the most popular group in the tribe, her body was weak and she was ordinary-looking. Because of frailty, she was more pale than others, her hair was thin and yellow.
Once, the young man saw the girl washing clothes at the stream. Her long hair hung in the river, her eye lashes reflected the light of the waves, her petite body was struggling to rinse the animal skin, and her thin white wrists seemed like it was about to break.
The young man fell in love with her at first sight.
The young girl’s father died early, no one in her family hunted, so survival was difficult. Since the young man fell in love with her, he often brought her food and helped her do work, faced with the young man’s unfailing care, the girl also quickly fell in love with the young man.
It should have been a beautiful love affair, but the girl’s sick and weak body prevented a happy ending. Shortly after the two got married, the maiden became very ill, and although she recovered, the high priest said that the maiden was very weak and might not live long.
The tribe had a sacred herb that could improve one’s constitution, which had been passed down through generations and was still in the hands of the chief. The young man wanted this sacred herb, but the chief refused.
“It’s not worth it to save an ordinary woman.”
The young man then got the idea and wanted to fight for the chief’s position.
But several challenges in succession, all failed. The chief was ten years older than him, and was very experienced and he was the strongest at the time. He mercilessly beat the young man into the mud again and again, and gradually, the people around him also voiced their incomprehension: Why so desperate? How can the sacred herb be wasted in such a place? That was just an ordinary woman.
One day, the young man suddenly said to the young girl who was cooking, “Let’s go to Xingye. I heard that this sacred herb was brought back by the ancestors of the tribe from Xingye, and there are still a lot of it there.”
The young woman paused her work, turned around and smiled quietly: “I’ll do whatever you want.”
So the young man took his wife and embarked on a journey of thousands of miles to Xingye Forest.
They invited all kinds of difficulties on the road. The two people were together day and night, so they weren’t bitter. After approaching Xingye, the young man saw a strange tribe outside.
There were only more than 100 people in this tribe. They lived by exchanging goods with passers-by. They had many magical herbs in their hands. Some passers-by would have gone to Xingye to gamble, but now they didn’t have to go there. They happily hunted enough food and exchanged it for herbs with the small tribe.
Unfortunately, the magic grass that they wanted was missing.
The leader of the small tribe confirmed to him again and again whether he really wanted to enter Xingye forest, which was very dangerous.
The young man said yes, for his wife. The young lady didn’t say a word, she snuggled up to the young man, saying that no matter where he went, she would accompany him.
That chief saw their determination and no longer discouraged them, he let them stay the night and let them leave.
As the old chief paused here, Rong Yue had a few moments of enlightenment.
He vaguely knew that what happened next.
“There is not a single memory left after entering the star wilderness. The only thing I remember again is that I was alone, back in this small tribe. And she was gone.”
“Is she dead, or is she alive? If she’s dead, where is her body? If alive, is she still waiting for me back in Xingye forest?”
“I was badly wounded, yet I only recuperated for three days before I went into Xingye again despite the discouragement ……”
“Yet no matter how many times I searched my memory, there was no sign of her.”
The unknown was a very frightening thing. The young man didn’t know whether to give up or to continue; hope, even if faint, always existed. As long as it existed, he could not be at ease until he died.
The young man went into the forest again and again. When he was well, he went in, and came out alone, full of confusion.
His most beloved maiden, he still didn’t know where she was. Was she hungry? Would she be crying?
Finally, one day, the young man found that he brought out a large number of herbs, so that the small tribe thrived and developed, and the legend that there were sacred herbs in the star field spread more and more …… but his body couldn’t hold out, he was old.
The former leader gave him the burden of the new leader, he accepted but said to him reluctantly that if the girl he was waiting for came back, he would give the seat to someone else.
The old chief numbly agreed, from then on he guarded the small tribe and continued to wait hopelessly every day. He had seen all kinds of people, he had seen all kinds of people who came purely for the value of herbs or purely to go in and gamble, for their wife and children.
Like the wooden bell boy who was born with a disease, his father and mother brought him to the tribe for fear of danger. The couple entered the Xingye.
They never came back, leaving the teenager alone, and it had been three years now.
The old chief: “I have asked the passers-by countless times, do you really want to go in? Have you thought about it? As the chief once said to me ……”
“It’s just that,” he sighed deeply, “just as he wasn’t able to convince me, I wasn’t able to convince them.”
He looked towards the forest of bones in the mist: “It’s as if the ancestors here, too, had been like me and ended up leaving only such white bones. Before long, I will also become like this, right ……”
Rong Yue’s clenched fist hand tightened.
If the same thing happened to himself, what would happen?
Although he had an extraordinary confidence, but as he couldn’t stop the server from being shut down, could he go against the rules of this world?
“Old chief.” Rong Yue drew the old chief’s attention to him, and suddenly recited words under his breath, and as the strange language spread, a golden light converged at the front of the wooden staff in his hand. The ball of light shot straight into the bone forest, the golden light appeared, dispersing all the surrounding fog!
The bone forest was covered with warm golden light, a layer of warm color.
The old chief’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets, he gasped for air, Rong Yue saw that he was about to faint with fear and hurriedly healed him.
“Don’t be afraid …… I’m just proving that we’re not ordinary people.”
Rong Yue was a little calmer at the moment: “If this Xingye is really a cursed place, then the fact that he waited for me is a turnaround.”
Rong Yue was standing tall, the old leader was still in disbelief, while Tian Yang looked at Rong Yue almost obsessively.
“Please tell us everything you know. We can judge whether it is true or not.” Rong Yue: “Only in this way can we maximize our ability.”
“If I have the chance to remember whether your wife is dead or alive, I will give you an answer.”
“In addition, there are people waiting for people in your tribe, give me their information together, so that I can easily find them.”
Rong Yue saw the old chief’s tears caught in the furrows of his skin and said comfortingly, “No thanks needed. Just help me keep it a secret.”
The old chief nodded his head repeatedly.
……
Before passing through the shrubs, Rong Yue looked back at the forest of bones again.
If his transmigration wasn’t accidental, it must be that ordinary life wasn’t suitable for him. He believed that there must be something in the dark that prompted him to come here.
Maybe the forest could give him a clue to the answer.
***
After returning, Rong Yue got more detailed information from the old leader.
There was no answer to the riddle either, but at least it was known that most of the herbs were not false, and the old chief had brought them out himself.
The first time he went in, he came out empty-handed and was seriously injured. He didn’t know what the injury was, it wasn’t a sharp weapon, and it didn’t look like a beast mark.
The second time he was still wounded, but brought out some herbs.
Based on the fact that the grass he brought out each time was different and occasionally injured, Rong Yue basically deduced two things.
First, just like Yue Dong and San Lu, who recalled the existence of this tribe only after they got close to Xingye, the memory of Xingye’s interior was probably also inherited. In other words, when they Wendy inside, they may recall some information.
Second, the space inside Xingye was likely to be chaotic rather than a normal plane. Each time you entered, you may be in a different place, otherwise the old chief should not have been injured when he entered later, and the herbs he brought back would not be mostly different.
With these two analyses at the bottom, Rong Yue thought a little clearer.
Since it was related to magic energy, this strange space should involve the rules of this world. “Oblivion” was a form of protection. This also proved that they had come to the right place.
The night was peaceful, there were no more ghostly tribesmen, so Rong Yue slept until dawn, got up and ambled to the window to look outside.
The old chief was leading a group of people to dance like seaweed again.
After a while, the father and son also got up and talked to the old chief for a while.
Rong Yue stretched: “Tian Yang, let’s go too.”
Just downstairs, he saw that the wooden bell boy was leaning against the railing with a gloomy face playing with bugs. He was so thin and pitiful that Rong Yue thought he was hungry before, but after yesterday he realized it was bad health.
“Little wooden bell, come.” Rong Yue beckoned.
“…… do what?” His mouth wasn’t polite, but he stood up honestly and looked at Rong Yue warily.
“Come here.”
Rong Yue closed his eyes, put his hand on the teenager’s shoulder, then he checked carefully and found that this child was indeed not well.
Little Jiang Liu had a heart disease, but Rong Yue couldn’t find the specific cause of this teenager’s illness, and could only feel that his vitality was weak, like a small fire that swayed in the wind and would go out at any time.
Rong Yue closed his eyes, recited a prayer covertly, and struck the healing golden light into the teenager’s body. The teenager didn’t see it, he only felt a sudden lightness all over his body and stood frozen in place.
Behind him came the footsteps of the father and son, as well as the sound of conversation with the old chief. Yesterday he heard that the father’s name was Gao Fei and the son’s name was Xiao Feng.
Rong Yue turned around: “Yes?”
Gao Fei froze: “Ah, you are, yesterday’s ……”
Rong Yue and Tian Yang stood together in excellent condition, in contrast, Gao Fei, who had been struck by the demonic Qi, looked miserable and had a sense of bad luck of not surviving more than three steps.
Rong Yue smiled and pointed to Gao Fei: “You guys, and us, will go together.”
Sang Lu and the others also appeared with the luggage, no one knew where they went yesterday.
Gao Fei and Xiao Feng obviously brightened up: “Really! Great!”
The Rong Yue Five-member Team looked like a top hunting team. Except Rong Yue, each of them was armed with sharp weapons and looks strong. It must be safer to go with them!
The old leader stood in the same place and stopped talking.
The group of people rushed out, and Rong Yue walked at the end. It seemed that he felt his sight, and he turned back.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a smile.
The old leader finally showed a slightly bitter smile: “Alas, alas…”
…
“Gao Fei, Xiao Feng.” Rong Yue introduced himself, “My name is Yue, these are Tian Yang, Yue Dong, Sang Lu and Bao Di.”
“We are from the Xingyue tribe.” Rong Yue added.
Gao Fei and Xiao Feng said in a rushed manner, “Sentei, we are from the Sentei tribe.”
Yue Dong was shocked and immediately gossiped, “Sentie ah! I was originally from the Gongshan tribe! …… your tribe that, that Sen Qiang, I heard he’s the first warrior? Is he powerful?”
“Gongshan ah ……” Gao Fei heard the familiar name and relaxed a lot: “He’s quite powerful, he’s been the most powerful young man in the past few years.”
Yue Dong meaningfully hummed.
After getting out of the tribe, the fog got bigger and bigger, several people had to use a rattan rope tied to the wrist and walked in tandem, afraid to get separated.
Tian Yang walked in the front, held a torch, which more or less dispelled some fog.
After walking for about an hour or so, they heard someone arguing loudly ahead.
“You’re crazy! If you want to go, go, I’m not going!”
“Stop it, okay, you two are wrong …… look at the fog, where can we go hunting? We can’t enter the forest and then bet on whether we can get something to eat, right?”
“Then do we have to turn back and beg them!? They can’t even recognize the pearl!”
This last one was a female voice, it was the same one that Rong Yue heard.
The people who quarreled in the front saw the light of fire and turned around together: “It’s you!”
The woman recognized them and was surprised: “I remember that you have dried meat! Take it out quickly, and I’ll exchange it for some pearls! It’s really a bargain!”
Oh, he ran into that woman again! 😅 Thank you for the update